Chile’s president named economist Mario Marcel, a member of the ruling Socialist Party and a former World Bank senior director, to be the next head of the country’s central bank.
Marcel will succeed Central Bank President Rodrigo Vergara when his term ends on Dec. 10.
A former budget director at Chile’s finance ministry, Marcel is currently one of the central bank’s five governing board members. He joined the central bank last year from the World Bank, where worked as senior director of the multilateral lender’s governance global practice.
“I’m confident Mario Marcel will maintain the excellent technical tradition at the central bank, along with the board, in managing monetary policy,” Bachelet said in televised comments on Tuesday.
Marcel, 57, will take over at the central bank at a time when private economists are speculating whether the bank will cut its benchmark interest rate to ignite growth as inflation shows signs of slowing. Earlier this week, the bank left the rate unchanged at 3.5% for the 10th consecutive month. In a statement, the central bank said inflation was “unexpectedly low.”
Headline inflation fell to 3.1% year-on-year at the end of September from 3.4% in August. It was the lowest rate in almost three years and close to the central bank’s inflation target of 2% to 4%.
Chile’s economy has struggled to bounce back from a drop in copper prices in 2014. The central bank forecasts growth of 1.75% this year, down from 2.3% in 2015.